When wolves go high, moose go low

As researchers studied gray wolves (Canis lupus) in northeastern Minnesota, they discovered that as their numbers increase, the moose (Alces americanus) population decreases.

“Wolves, as in other areas, appear to have contributed to the decline in the northeastern Minnesota moose population at least in part through predation on calves, supporting earlier reports,” the researchers wrote in a study published in early view in the Wildlife Society Bulletin.

Co-author Shannon Barber-Meyer, a TWS member, discussed the research with Minnesota’s WTIP North Shore Community Radio. Listen to it here.

TWS members can log into Your Membership to read this paper in the Wildlife Society Bulletin. Go to Publications and then Wildlife Society Bulletin.